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Uomini si Nasce Poliziotti si Muore
Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man
Eiskalte Typen auf Heissen Öfen
Italy 1976
produced by Alberto Marras, Vincenzo Salviani
directed by Ruggero Deodato
starring Marcel Porel, Ray Lovelock, Adolfo Celi, Renato Salvatori, Franco Citti, Silvia Dionisio, Marino Masé, Sergio Ammirata, Bruno Corazzari, Daniele Dublino, Flavia Fabiani (= Sofia Dionisio), Tom Felleghy, Margherita Horowitz, Gina Mascetti, Marcello Monti, Claudio Nicastro, Gino Pagnani, Enzo Pulcrano, Alvaro Vitali
screenplay by Fernando Di Leo, based on a story by Fernando Di Leo, Alberto Marras, Vincenzo Salviani, music by Ubaldo Continiello
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Alfredo (Marc Porel) and Antonio (Ray Lovelock) are two cops working
for the special force who brutally hunt down (often on motorbikes) and
kill delinquents - even when killing is not called for. But even though
they go after everything from bankrobbers to handbagthieves to
hostage-takers with equal brutality, their main directive is to hunt down
gangster boss 'Bibi' Pasquini (Renato Salvatori). But Bibi is doing his
best to keep out of harm's (and the law's) reach, by staying in hiding, by
running his gambling dens in places only known to a few, by bribing a
police officer (Daniele Dublino) into cooperation, and by brutally
treating those who betray him - like tearing out the eye of Proietti.
So our two heroes do their best to lure Bibi out of hiding, like
burning down the cars in front of one of his clubs, raiding his gambling
dens and having sex with his nymphomaniac sister (Flavia Fabiani). This
only leads to Bibi sending gunman after gunman after Alfredo and Antonio -
with little success, because our heroes are good with their guns.
Ultimately, Antonio and Alfredo find Proietti, who is willing to take
them to Bibi for a bit of money, and our heroes want to set a trap for
Bibi on a yacht - little do they know though that Bibi has actually
contemplated this and rigged up the yacht with explosives. It seems our
heroes are done for when their boss (Adolfo Celi) stops by and shoots Bibi
and his main henchman (Enzo Pulcrano) in cold blood.
All's well that ends well, and when Antonio and Alfredo find out the
yacht is rigged with explosives, they blow her up just for the fun of it.
Live Like a Cop, Die Like a Man is a violent, unforgiving, but
at eh same time rather pointless and questionable cop film. In it, the
heroes, two law enforcers, are at times even more brutal than the
delinquents they are hunting and never have any problems to shoot, beat up
or rape anyone, even if the punishment outdoes the crime by far and they
are breaking more laws than they enforce. Unfortunately though, the film
never questions the (mis-)deeds of its protagonists but introduces them as
cool guys and sort of justifies their actions ... and this makes
the film rather unlikeable. That neither Marc Porel nor Ray Lovelock
deliver a decent performanceas the leads doesn't help one bit either, of
course, and neither does an inapproprate musical score.
On the plus side, the film does feature some nice action scenes
(especially a motorbike chase at the beginning), but that's not enough to
justify its reactionary worldview.
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